1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hood structure preferable for smoothly folding a rear window of a foldable hood of a convertible car.
2. Description of the Related Art
Convertible cars comprise a foldable hood for coping with the rainy weather. The hood will be explained hereinafter.
FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrams for explaining the state of folding a conventional hood.
In FIG. 7A, the imaginary line denotes the state of a hood 101 of a convertible car 100 expanded for use.
The hood 101 comprises an upper part 102, a side part 103, and a rear part 105 provided with a resin rear window 104, with a plurality of links (not shown) disposed in the inside so as to be folded in a certain shape for storage. Numeral 106 denotes a front window, and 107 a car body.
The hood 101 has the front end of the upper part 102 interlocked with the front window 106, and the lower ends of the side part 103 and the rear part 105 mounted on the car body 107, respectively. The rear part 105 is a curved surface projected backward so as to have an arc-like shape in the car width direction, connected with the upper part 102 and the side part 103 smoothly. The rear window 104 forms a part of the curved surface.
In storing the hood 101, first, the upper part 102 is bent at a bending part 108 by disconnecting the interlock of the upper part 102 of the hood 101 and the front window 106, and moving the upper part 102 to the rear upper direction.
Next, the side part 103 is folded and pulled down as well as the rear window 104 is bent at a bending part 111.
In FIG. 7B, the upper part 102, the side part 103 and the rear part 105 are further pulled down backward for folding, so as to be stored in the car body 107 as shown in FIG. 7C.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the hood of FIG. 7B. In bending vertically the rear window 104, which has been curved, projecting backward so as to have an arc-like shape in the car width direction before folding, a fold 112 is formed at the bending part 111, and further, folds 113 to 116 elongating from the fold 112 in the substantially vertical direction are formed.
In the case opening and closing of the hood 101 is repeated, there is a risk that particularly the intersections 117, 118 of the folds 112 to 116 are stretched so that some parts of the rear window 104 may not be fully opened at the time of spreading the hood 101.